No / The rights of minorities are becoming increasingly important, especially in the context of enlargement of the European Union, yet there are remarkably few treaties dealing with minority rights under international law. One of these is the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. This volume provides the first expert commentary on the Convention, which is the principal international document establishing minority rights in a legally binding way. Many minority rights such as those to political participation, non-assimilation, and the use of native languages are not incorporated in other major Human Rights agreements. The Convention is therefore often taken to be the leading standard in the international law of minority rights.

No / The World Health Organization (WHO) was intended to serve at the forefront of efforts to realize human rights to advance global health, and yet this promise of a rights-based approach to health has long been threatened by political constraints in international relations, organizational resistance to legal discourses, and medical ambivalence toward human rights. Through legal research on international treatyobligations, historical research in the WHO organizational archives, and interview research with global health stakeholders, this research examines WHO's contributions to (and, in many cases, negligence of) the rights-based approach to health. Based upon such research, this article analyzes the evolving role of WHO in the development and implementation of human rights for global health, reviews the current state of human rights leadership in the WHO Secretariat, and looks to future institutions to reclaim the mantle of human rights as a normative framework for global health governance. (C) 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Masters in Science / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional & Community Planning / Stephanie A. Rolley / This case study considers the lessons of Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT initiative for future climate change policy and international conservation and development efforts. A comprehensive post-cancellation history of the initiative and background information regarding key domestic and international actors and institutions is presented in the Literature Review. Documents identified from LexisNexis and Google searches are analyzed to identify seven narratives of the initiative’s failure, which provide a basis for the suggestion of lessons. Questions regarding supply-side climate policy opportunities and challenges are explored. The initiative’s political mismanagement, design omissions and insufficient domestic political efforts, and a lack of contribution incentives are identified as the key causes of failure. The author concludes that the initiative’s supply-side model of shared sacrifices has the potential to align developed and developing country needs in support of greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals while addressing the difficulties posed by an emergent political economy of developing world resource extractivism in Ecuador and elsewhere. Future research regarding supply-side climate policies is suggested.

This thesis examines public discourses concerning global warming. More specifically, it works to understand how the American media talks about environmentalism within the context of the Kyoto Protocols. This study is rooted in Foucault’s notions of power and discourse and also looks to the theoretical tenets of critical rhetoric developed by McKerrow (1989) and McGee (1990) to understand how the American debate over the protocols might create problematic approaches to environmentalism. These understandings may result from troubling articulations of ideographic fragments, which operate as texts in a postmodern society. As the Kyoto Protocols are set to expire, it is important to explore what influence the discourses surrounding Kyoto may have had. As the effects of humanity upon the environment become clearer, this study questions discourses that not only justify our impact, but may allow us to ignore it altogether. This thesis also contributes to the study of Environmental Communication. Consequently, this thesis examines discourses present in three popular American news magazines to observe how environmentalism is articulated in debates over the Kyoto Protocols and climate change. / Literature review -- The critical orientation -- Kyoto as an ideograph -- Rethinking Kyoto and environmentalism / Department of Communication Studies

The climate protection under international law Key words: international climatic law, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol Abstract The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the system of climate protection in international law. In the thesis, there is described the history of the part of international law concerning climate changes, the contemporary international climatic law itself, and some of the most serious problems concerning the topic. The reason for my research is to introduce the basic system of international climatic law, as well as to show how modern international law is created. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter describes the international climatic law as a part of the international environmental law, shows the forms of treaties used in the international environmental law and presents the reasons why the form of framework convention was used in the case of international climatic law. The second chapter analyzes the history and evolution of international climatic law. From the first political declaration to the most recent international conventions, the most important milestones of the development of the international climatic law are shown. The third chapter presents the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change itself as the...

Protection of the Earth's climate system from the legal point of view This thesis aims to provide a broad view of legal protection of the Earth's climate within its six chapters. The first three chapters explain drivers of climate change law. Protection of the climate system has stemmed not only from science, but also to a large extent from the political situation and the performance of the world economy. Therefore, after introduction the second chapter examines the scientific basis of climate change and its evolution in time. The third chapter outlines the history of international negotiations which led to the conclusion of the three most important international instruments regulating climate change - the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the EU ETS Directive. The fourth chapter discusses economic approaches to internalization of global warming costs. The core of the thesis analyzes the legal framework addressing climate change. The analysis is devoted to the backbone of international instruments laid down in the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, and to one of the most significant regional instruments - European emission allowances trading. Therefore, the fourth chapter on the Framework Convention on Climate Change examines the Convention...

Yu Hongyuan. / "January 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Abstract That greenhouse gas (GHG) emission causes ¡§Global Warming¡¨ is a human common problem today in the earth. The GHG emission will gradually promote our weather temperature and change which we must pay for a lot. For example, the warming temperature will dissolve icebergs, that it will elevate the sea level. Also, our land area will decrease. If climate zones were shifted, it would be possible to initiate some animals migrate. In the worse case, our living space will be squeezed and some special diseases will be spread out¡Ketc. In view of environmental protection awareness in every country, we must face the problem and crisis which comes from ¡§Global Warming¡¨ and ¡§Heating Pollution¡¨. In June of 1992, there was a meeting in Rio of Brazil. All representatives who comes from 153 different countries sign an agreement ¡V the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They try to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate and environmental system. To achieve this goal, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted on COP3 in December 1997 to place legally binding limits on GHG emissions. This Protocol norms 38 countries and European Union. In June 2007, the Group of Eight (G8) have reached a consensus and expect in year 2050, CO2 emissions can be reduced to the half of current emissions. We can see that, every country is vigorous to look for alternative energy that eliminates the environment destroyed and saves the earth resources. For example, Solar Energy, Water Energy, Wind Energy, Biomass Energy, Ocean Energy and Geothermal Energy¡Ketc. Those are gradually developed and applied in our daily life. My research is focus on the LED applications based on the substitution of traditional lighting. Actually, LED has all advantage of the energy saving, eco-lighting and economy of scale. How to use this alternative lighting is of great urgency and the major topic in light source manufacturers. For example, if America can replace their 55% white heat bulbs and 55% fluorescent lamps by LED before 2010, they can save 35 billion US dollars every year. For Japan, if they replace 100% white heat bulbs, they can save one to two of Nuclear Power Plants. Also, they can save above 100 million of gasoline every year. As to Taiwan official estimation, we can save 11 billion electricity degrees every year when we replace 25% white heat bulbs and 100% fluorescent lamps. That electric power is approximate to save one Nuclear Power Plant and 50 million of gasoline every year. According to the data above, the population of LED will give us a lot of eco-benefits. My report leans on researching and treating LED. Then, I take one step ahead to demonstrate how important it is to apply LED on our human light source and the effects of earth environment. Keywords: Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Global Warming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Kyoto Protocol Biomass Energy LED - Light Emitting Diode (display)

During negotiating process of drawing up global environmental conventions or protocols, negotiating parties to form different negotiation coalitions can be observed. However, few existing academic literature or studies have taken a systematic approach to explore the elements that contribute to the formation of these coalitions and to the changes of coalitions in the middle stage of negotiating process. Through examining the negotiating process of several selected conferences for the establishment of global environmental treaties which are representative in nature and from different international environmental domains, this study is to find the core elements and sub-elements which contribute to the formation of negotiation coalitions. This study shows that the composition of negotiation coalitions is dynamic. The timing of reorganizing the negotiating coalitions falls on the stage in which negotiation proceeds from principle issues to substantive ones. In other words, when the issues under negotiation begin to involve legally binding substantive commitments to State parties, the reorganization of negotiation coalitions emerges. Furthermore, this study also finds that common elements do exist in the formation of negotiation coalitions. The core elements are ¡§the source of threat¡¨ and ¡§enhanceing the influence of a State¡¨; they are not affected by the change of negotiating issues. The other two sub-elements are: ¡§the same experience of participating in the same international organizations¡¨, the factor for forming negotiation coalitions during the stage of negotiation on principle issues, and ¡§domestic economic structure¡¨ during the stage of substantive issues negotiation for the formation of negotiation coalitions.

The attitudes, perceptions and environmentally responsible behaviour of delegates (tourists) at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an area in which little or no academic research was undertaken from an academic, tourism perspective. This dissertation presents the results of a Green Survey undertaken during this climate change conference, focusing on the attitudes, perceptions and responsible practices of delegates in order to obtain a better understanding of tourism related impacts. Forms of tourism used as the conceptual basis were MICE, event tourism, sustainable tourism and responsible tourism integrated with socio-psychological behavioural theories. COP 17 was held in Durban (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) from the 28 November to 8 December, 2011 over 14 days. It was one of the many high-level international meetings on climate change, sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. Delegates involved in the formal discussions included representatives of the world's governments, international organisations and civil society. Several thousand attendees (visitors and local residents) participated in separate discussions and events organised by civil society to highlight environmental and climate injustices and the concerns of the poor. Interviews were conducted at the conference venues, where COP 17 was held, that is, the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC). The study endeavoured to understand the socio-economic and demographic profile of delegates. An additional objective was to examine the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of delegates on various environmental issues related to climate change and its impact on tourism. An attempt was also made to determine whether there were any significant relationships between socio- demographic variables, knowledge and attitudes/ perceptions, and the behaviour of delegates. A structured questionnaire survey of 825 official delegates was undertaken and face-to-face interviews were conducted. The research survey used a non-probability, purposive, spatially-based systematic sampling techniques. The interviews were conducted in the ICC precinct (open spaces) and the first delegate was purposively selected. Subsequently, every fifteenth respondent was interviewed. The results indicate that despite delegates’ awareness of environmental best practices and having a good knowledge of environmental issues, there was inconsistency in behaviour due to a range of factors such as situational, internal and external aspects. Moreover, there was a gap in environmental behaviour practiced at home and whilst travelling. The majority of the delegates agreed that COP 17 had major environmental impacts in terms of energy consumption, air pollution, solid waste and overconsumption of water. Most respondents also stated that they engaged in environmentally responsible practices sometimes or always. It was also found that education had a significant relationship (p=0.000) on all environmental best practices whilst age and gender was only related to certain best practices. Additionally, knowledge of a few environment issues was significantly related to certain environmental best practices. Lastly, age was strongly related to the most number of behavioural practices and knowledge had significant relationships to numerous behavioural practices at home and while at the tourist destination. The study shows that socio-demographic variables, such as level of education, were important determinants of COP 17 delegates’ attitudes and environmentally friendly practices whilst traveling and at home. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.